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Friday, 29 November 2013

The Nines

The Nines is a psychological
thriller and drama that shows a three part story all connecting with the same
people but in different universes. Ryan Reynolds portrays three slightly
distinctive but interlinked characters. The linear narrative is structured in
three different parts, each of them a chapter of a characters life. “Part One”
is a troubled actor called Gary who is under house arrest, “Part two” a television
screen writer called Gavin who is trying to get his pilot produced. Finally we
are left with “Part 3” with the Game Designer Gabriel whose car breaks down
whilst on a road trip with his wife and child. The Number 9 appears constantly
in each life and slowly becomes an obsession. Whenever we are close to
discovering the truth of the number, the universe seems to be sucked into a
vortex and ends, creating a new universe with a different life.

John August certainly does give a
complex and confusing perception of The Nines. It is almost as if you’ve walked
into a David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001) or Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko
(2001) movie combination. Ryan Reynolds three divided characters all battle
their moral ambiguity which seems to always revolve around the number nine. Part
One house arrested Gary begins to question his sanity after spending countless
hours alone in a house that strangely belongs to Gavin. Part Two screenwriter Gavin is treading on
very thin ice making sure the post-production of his pilot goes smoothly. Part
Three universe is actually the Gavin’s pilot show. Gabriel is marooned in the
forest with his wife (Melissa McCarthy) and their mute daughter (Elle Fanning)
who are also linked between the divided three segments.

Ryan Reynolds character says "There's something wrong with the world!" and there certainly is some truth in that. However no matter how inexplicable and head scratching it may seem, you just have to sit it out and just wait as the film gets progressively more bizarre.Writer and Director John August undoubtedly has created a thrilling perplexity that sits nicely in a world where it seems to be out of this cosmos. With an out of sync world and a barrage of questions that need answering, the ending unfortunately wasn’t as climatic and breathing taking as I was hoping for. However this being a John August film and not an M, Night Shyamalan famous twist, I certainly wasn’t expecting the outcome. If I watched The Nines in the cinema I wouldn’t have enjoyed as much. But being a straight-to-DVD film and watching it at home it certainly is a better film being a DVD released film only. The Nines was even nominated for Best DVD release at 34th Saturn Awards, So I just shows that some films are better off not been shown on the big screen.